SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft today announced the name for the next version of Windows: not Windows 9 but Windows 10.

Terry Myerson, executive vice president for the Operating System Group, said that the new release represented such a shift in Microsoft's approach to delivering Windows and in what Windows will be—able to span everything from an Internet-of-Things gizmo to a phone to a tablet to a PC to a server—that calling it Windows 9 wouldn't be big enough to capture the differences.

Given the rest of the company's One-themed branding (Xbox One, OneDrive, OneNote, and such), Myerson said that calling the new OS Windows One was logical—but it turns out that a guy called Bill Gates already did that back in the 1980s. So the company went for Windows 10 instead.

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Researchers have captured the social spread of a new type of tool use in a wild population of chimps for the first time.

Regardless of one's opinion about the utility of the Pebble watch, there's no denying that the company has done a good job of updating their software, features, and both UI and hardware design as time has gone on. Earlier this year the company revealed the Pebble Steel which is a version of the Pebble with a more premium design. They also introduced the Pebble appstore which is home to over 4000 applications that have been downloaded over 5 million times cumulatively. Today the company is announcing more fitness focused features and a price drop for all versions of the Pebble,

The incoming health and fitness update will enable full activity tracking and sleep monitoring. The Misfit health application for Pebble has also been updated to take advantage of these new abilities. This, combined with the Pebble's relatively long battery life for a smartwatch, will provide health, fitness, and sleep tracking throughout the day and night which is difficult to do with other smartwatches that need to be taken off for a nightly charge.

To celebrate the Pebble's growth, the watch is also being reduced in price. The original Pebble is being dropped to just $99 / €129 / £99, while the Pebble Steel has been dropped to $199 / €229 / £179. At $250 the Pebble Steel was definitely pricey and had pressure from competing Android Wear devices that can sell for $199 or less. Even at $199 I think the Pebble Steel may be a hard sell due to its limitations compared to other smartwatches, but the superior battery life may be what sways users

TV-over-Internet startup Aereo was shut off following an adverse Supreme Court ruling this summer. The high court said it couldn't avoid paying for broadcast TV shows by claiming it was renting a tiny antenna to each customer.

It might get one last chance, though. The FCC is considering whether to regulate online providers of pre-scheduled programs the same way it handles cable and satellite companies, according to reports in National Journal and Multichannel News.

If true, it could be a breakthrough for Aereo. In the wake of the Supreme Court's ABC v. Aereo ruling, the company changed its strategy, embracing the idea that it should be considered a cable system. It wants to pay the same royalty fees for broadcast content that the cable companies pay.

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A new study has warned that wildlife populations around the world have dropped by more than half in just 40 years.

Early production still (not really)

Tetris, the block-stacking game that comes in near the top of many lists of greatest games ever, is being made into a live-action, feature-length, "sci-fi epic" motion picture, The Tetris Company announced today.

Before you ask, no, this is not a joke. You'd be forgiven for asking, though, because the very idea of a movie based on Tetris has been an Internet joke countless times in the past.

The film is being developed by Threshold Entertainment, best known to gaming crossover fans as the studio behind the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie. That film, which grossed $70 million, was one of the first to take a video game license to the silver screen, and it's still critically considered one of the best examples of the based-on-the-game sub-genre (though that's really somewhat damning with faint praise).

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Just as Lucy pulls the ball away from Charlie Brown, the NFL takes broadcasts away from fans. Charles M. Schulz

The Federal Communications Commission today unanimously voted to eliminate its sports blackout rules, challenging the National Football League to end its own policies that sometimes prevent fans from watching home games on TV.

"Today’s FCC action makes clear: if leagues want to mistreat fans, they will have to do so without Uncle Sam’s help," said David Goodfriend, an attorney and lobbyist who founded a group called the Sports Fans Coalition that fought against the rules.

NFL broadcasts are blacked out in local markets when games are not sold out. The NFL in 2012 relaxed the rules by letting individual teams reduce the likelihood of a blackout by only requiring that 85 percent of tickets be sold. But the policies have persisted for decades with support from the federal government.

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Over the past few days, Apple, Red Hat, and others have pushed out patches to vulnerabilities in the GNU Bourne Again Shell (bash). The vulnerabilities previously allowed attackers to execute commands remotely on systems that use the command parser under some conditions—including Web servers that use certain configurations of Apache. However, some of the patches made changes that broke from the functionality of the GNU bash code, so now debate continues about how to “un-fork” the patches and better secure bash.

At the same time, the urgency of applying those patches has mounted as more attacks that exploit the weaknesses in bash’s security (dubbed “Shellshock”) have appeared. In addition to the threat first spotted the day after the vulnerability was made public, a number of new attacks have emerged. While some appear to simply be vulnerability scans, there are also new exploit attempts that carry malware or attempt to give the attacker direct remote control of the targeted system.

Stormy weather

On Monday, the SANS Technology Institute’s Internet Storm Center (ISC) elevated its INFOcon threat level—a measure of the danger level of current Internet “worms” and other threats based on Internet traffic—to Yellow. This level indicates an attack that poses a minor threat to the Internet’s infrastructure as a whole with potential significant impact on some systems. Johannes Ullrich, Dean of Research at SANS, noted that six exploits based on Shellshock have been recorded by the ISC’s servers and “honeypot” systems. (A honeypot is a virtual or physical computer system set up to entice attackers and record their actions.)

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A few of a marketer's favorite things. Atlas Solutions

Facebook has officially relaunched the advertising platform Atlas in a new incarnation that will allow marketers to track users in new dimensions, according to a blog post from the company. Atlas will offer the ability to not only synthesize information about where users are seeing ads, but also to see how and whether those ad views play out into a purchase, even if it's offline.

Facebook acquired Atlas from Microsoft in 2013, and now the platform has been "rebuilt from the ground up." Atlas aims to accomplish what it calls "people-based marketing"—that is, the counterpoint to marketing based on a browser cookie or isolated social media profile.

Atlas's services purport to solve the "cross-device" problem, where marketers struggle to relate the browsing activity on a user's phone to what they do on their computer. This has become easier to an extent with Facebook profiles and logins, but Atlas also plans to add "partners" that "cross search, social, creative management and publishers" to track how ads are viewed and how successful they are on multiple "channels and platforms."

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The Matchstick. The streaming stick market is apparently heating up. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon all have entrants in this space, and if a new Kickstarter appeal succeeds, there will soon be a Firefox OS stick getting in on the action.

Inspired by the Chromecast, the Matchstick will plug into your TV using HDMI, connect to devices locally using Wi-Fi, and be used as a streaming media platform. Unlike Chromecast, however, Matchstick will use the open source Firefox OS as its base, making it readily accessible to developers who will be able to build HTML apps for Matchstick that leverage open Web technologies.

The developers hope it will deliver what they wanted Chromecast to achieve: any content on any HD screen, anywhere, any time. They've put together an SDK for both sending apps (that run on phones or PCs to transmit content to the Matchstick) and receiver apps (that run on the Matchstick itself).

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Version:3.12.29 (longterm) Released:2014-09-30 Source:linux-3.12.29.tar.xz PGP Signature:linux-3.12.29.tar.sign Patch:patch-3.12.29.xz (Incremental) ChangeLog:ChangeLog-3.12.29

Jonathan McIntosh

A set of newly declassified documents shows definitively and explicitly that the United States intelligence community relies heavily on what is effectively unchecked presidential authority to conduct surveillance operations, as manifested through the Reagan-era Executive Order (EO) 12333.

And at a more basic level, the new documents illustrate that the government is adept at creating obscure legalistic definitions of plain language words, like "collection of information," which help obfuscate the public’s understanding of the scope and scale of such a dragnet.

The documents were first published on Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) after the group filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit with the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School.

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The next version of Windows, codenamed Threshold, will get its first official unveiling later today. A mix of leaks and accidental publications have shed a little more light on what we should—and shouldn't—expect to see.

Microsoft is releasing a "Technical Preview" of Windows. As reported by Neowin, the download page was accidentally published over the weekend. The 4GB release is being clearly billed and targeted at enterprise and developers.

To that end, it should have the new hybrid Start menu—created to appease desktop-bound corporate users—a notification center, and windowed Metro apps. It isn't, however, expected to have a full visual refresh, and it won't have all the consumer bells and whistles. This means that Internet Explorer 12, believed to be getting a streamlined new look, and the Cortana personal assistant, believed to be making her desktop debut, won't be there.

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A mountain guide who was on Mount Ontake when it erupted speaks about the moment it exploded without warning.

The interior of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX). ADMX collaboration/University of Washington/LLNL

Scientists are explorers by nature, and when the edges of their maps are terra incognita, researchers sometimes must give names to phenomena for which we have little knowledge. Sometimes those names linger after we know exactly what an unknown quantity is; X-rays are a classic example. The “X” initially referred to mystery, but by the time physicists determined they were simply a high-energy form of light, the name had stuck.

Dark matter, however, is still a placeholder term. Over the decades since astronomers determined that most of the mass in the cosmos is invisible, researchers have done a much better job of figuring out what dark matter isn’t than what it actually is. We know it must be electrically neutral, and it can’t be made up of ordinary matter (electrons, atomic nuclei, etc.). And while “dark matter” itself is a general term, physicists have a sort of cartography of hints: areas on the map in which various dark matter candidates reside.

The most popular of these realms contains the WIMPs: weakly interacting massive particles. Like the term “dark matter," WIMP is generic: the name describes the energy scale at which these hypothetical particles interact with ordinary matter, which in turn reveals something about their mass.

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Yesterday HP announced retail availability of two ARM based servers, the ProLiant m400 and m800. Each are offered in a server cartridge as part of the Moonshot System. A single 4.3U Moonshot chassis can hold 45 server cartridges. Usually higher numbers mean better, but in this case the m400 and m800 are so significantly different I wouldn’t consider them competitors. The m800 is focused on parallel compute and DSP, while the m400 is focused on compute, memory bandwidth, IO bandwidth and features the first 64-bit ARM processor to reach retail server availability.

HP ProLiant ARM Servers   m400 m800 Processors 1 4 Processor AppliedMicro X-Gene
Custom 64-bit ARMv8 TI KeyStone II 66AK2H
Cortex-A15 ARMv7A + DSP Compute cores per processor

8 CPU

4 CPU
8 DSP Clock Speed 2.4 GHz 1.0 GHz Cache Memory Each core: 32KB L1 D$ and I$
Each pair: 256KB L2
All cores: 8MB L3 Each DSP core: 1MB L2 Memory Quad Channel
8 SODIMM Slots
DDR3-1600 Low Voltage
Max: 64GB (8x8GB) Single Channel
4 SODIMM Slots
DDR3-1600 Low Voltage
Max: 32GB (4x8GB) Network Controller Dual 10GbE Dual 1GbE Storage M.2 2280 M.2 2242 PCIe 3.0 2.0

Starting with the m400, HP designed in a single AppliedMicro X-Gene SoC at 2.4 GHz. AppliedMicro has been discussing the X-Gene processor for several years now, and with this announcement becomes the first vendor to achieve retail availability of a 64-bit ARMv8 SoC other than Apple. Considering Apple doesn’t sell their processors stand-alone, this is a significant milestone. AppliedMicro has significantly beaten AMD’s A1100 processor to market, as AMD has not yet entered production. Marquee features of the X-Gene SoC include 8 custom 64-bit ARM cores, which at quad-issue should be higher performance than A57, quad channel DDR3 memory, and integrated PCIe 3.0 and dual 10GbE interfaces. Look out for a deep dive on the X-Gene SoC in a future article.

The m800 is a 32-bit ARM server containing four Texas Instruments KeyStone II 66AK2H SoCs at 1.0 GHz. Each KeyStone II SoC contains four A15 CPU cores alongside eight TI C66x DSP cores and single channel DDR3 memory, for a total of 16 CPU and 32 DSP cores. IO steps back to dual GbE and PCIe 2.0 interfaces. It is clear from the differences in these servers that m400 and m800 target different markets. There isn’t yet a best-of-both-worlds server combining the core count and memory + IO interfaces of the m400 and m800 together.

Each server is available with Ubuntu and IBM Informix database preinstalled, and will be demonstrated at ARM TechCon October 1-3 in Santa Clara, California.

Source: HP

Star-forming region near the center of the Milky Way. Composite image, assembled from infrared images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in 2009. NASA & ESA

The most complex organic molecule yet to be discovered in interstellar space has been reported. While organic molecules that are organized in a straight line have been seen previously, the new molecule—iso-propyl cyanide—is the first molecule found with a branched structure.

In the 1980s, scientists were beginning to realize that it’s possible for complex organic molecules to form on the surfaces of dust grains. As a result, some of them predicted that the interstellar medium would contain complex, branched molecules. But none were discovered until now.

The molecule in question is an important building block of amino acids, which are themselves one of the important building blocks of life. The discovery reinforces hopes of finding life elsewhere in the Universe.

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With every launch of the iPhone, Apple seems to have everything to lose and not much to gain. Apple’s iPhone line accounts for the majority of profits in the smartphone space, and as the smartphone market marches towards maturity it seems inevitable that companies like Xiaomi will be able to deliver largely similar experiences at much lower prices. The same was once happened with Apple in the days of the PC industry where Apple approached irrelevance. Yet generation after generation, Apple seems to be able to hold on to a majority of the profit share, and they’ve managed to tenaciously hold on to their first-mover advantage. To find out if they can continue that trend with the latest iPhone launch, read on for the full review.

October is here, which means an update to the Games with Gold program for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Continuing the trend we have seen since the introduction of Games with Gold for the Xbox One, the much larger catalog for the 360 means that there are more gems in there to pick out, and this month looks to be no exception.

Xbox One

The Xbox One has only a single new game this month, which replaces last month’s Super Time Force. That likely means Crimson Dragon is sticking around for a third month. It is disappointing to see only a single game, and often a low cost indie game, when there are several year old launch titles that would fit in here nicely. The new game for the Xbox One this month is Chariot, from the Canadian developer Frima. This game will debut on the Xbox One as a free download for Xbox Live subscribers, which is something we have seen from Sony over the last couple of months. If there is only going to be a single game, at least it is a game that you can guarantee no one has already purchased. Chariot is a co-op platformer which can be played alone or with a friend.

“Chariot, the newest ID@Xbox game from Canadian developers Frima, is a couch co-op platformer that can be played alone or with a friend. Players take the role of the brave Princess or her faithful Fiancé as they maneuver the departed king’s coffin-on-wheels through 25 levels set in five vibrant underground environments, with his majesty’s ghost giving them a piece of his mind every step of the way. Filled to the brim with emergent physics-based gameplay, Chariot offers hours of exciting exploration, fast-paced ride sequences and mountains upon mountains of loot!”

Xbox 360

On the Xbox 360, there is not an indie game to be found this month. The first game, available from October 1st to 15th, is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, from DICE. This 2010 game plays at the multiplayer squad level, and includes a single player campaign as well. This is a well-reviewed game which scores an 88 Metascore and 8.7 User Score on metacritic. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 normally sells for $19.99.

“Battlefield: Bad Company 2, brings the award-winning Battlefield gameplay to the forefront of Xbox 360 console with best-in-class vehicular combat and unexpected "Battlefield moments." Vehicles like the ATV and a transport helicopter allow for all-new multiplayer tactics on the Battlefield. You can compete in four-player teams in two squad-only game modes, fighting together to unlock exclusive awards and achievements. Battles are set across expansive maps, each with a different tactical focus. The game also sees the return of the B Company squad in a more mature single-player campaign.”

October’s second Xbox 360 game is Darksiders II from Vigil Games. This was originally released in August 2012, and players assume control of Death – one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is an action RPG with a hack and slash combat. Darksiders II received a 83 Metascore and 8.0 User Score on metacritic. Darksiders II normally sells for $49.99 but is available for free to Xbox Live Gold subscribers from October 16th to 31st.

“Finally, Xbox 360 players get a chance to play one of the platform’s most underrated games: Darksiders II, which continues the series’ emphasis on huge environments, exploration, and a deep and rewarding story. Combine that with fantastic voice acting, impressive visuals, and a huge variety of procedurally generated loot (not to mention character-building options), and you’ll quickly find yourself enraptured by Darksiders II’s depth and top-notch game design. Did we mention you get to play as Death himself? Yeah.”

It is good to see a brand new game come to the Xbox One GWG program, but hopefully the program will be able to pick up steam soon with some new content being launched. The Xbox 360 continues to offer quality titles, which is something we don’t want to see changing. If you missed September’s games, you can pick them up until the end of the month.

 

While we’ve also written about the iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus needs its own review in order to really understand the various features of the device that would otherwise be buried in the context of the iPhone 6. Without question, this device represents a significant departure from the way Apple has competed in the smartphone space. Until now, Apple has deliberately avoided the phablet space, choosing not to compete with the Galaxy Note line that has been established as the main market competitor for the past 3-4 generations. As a result, Apple occupies a fast-follower position at best. To find out if the iPhone 6 Plus manages to compete with the Galaxy Note line, read on for the full review.